This article was initially published in the November issue of Global Drinks Intel magazine. For details on how to subscribe, click here.
Toronto’s modern drinks scene emphasises creativity, homegrown products, sustainability, food linkages, cocktails-to-go and, well, karaoke. One thing it is definitely not is the blank slate it was last century, writes Stephen Beaumont.
While Toronto has held the title of Canada’s largest city for over 40 years [having surpassed Montréal in 1981], writing about the Ontario capital’s bar scene a couple of decades ago would have been a largely futile pursuit. For, although Toronto’s promoters were fond of reminding one and all that the city truly was world-class, the reality was that finding a respectable cocktail or innovative and independent bar in the 1990s was a daunting challenge.
Mercifully, since the dawn of the Millennium, this city of neighbourhoods has evolved at breakneck speed into one of the finest food and drink destinations in North America, boasting dozens of craft breweries and distilleries, nearly all with tasting rooms, cocktail bars impressive enough to rank among the world’s best, and countless beer bars, spirits specialists and restaurants with wine lists that are expertly curated or simply massive, and occasionally both.
Alongside this evolution has been Toronto’s emergence as a global tourism destination. In pre-pandemic 2019, the city welcomed 27.5m daytrippers and overnight visitors, a 70% increase over just a decade earlier. According to Destination Toronto, these visits contributed a total of CAD6.7bn [US$5.03bn] to the local economy, a considerable portion of which, naturally enough, wound up in the tills of the city’s hospitality industry.
Independent outlets dominate
Whereas the Toronto of old was dominated by chain bars and restaurants, today’s cocktail bar circuit is led by a new generation of independent outlets, says Christine Sismondo, academy chair for Canada East of North America’s 50 Best Bars. To illustrate, she cites Civil Liberties, a scruffy-chic bar in the city’s Christie Pits neighbourhood, which made its debut at No.10 on the organisation’s most recent list.
“Civil Liberties definitely deserves mention,” says Sismondo, “but then again, so do any number of other bars, like Bar Mordecai, Mother, The Shameful Tiki Room, Cry Baby Gallery and The Cloak Bar.” Not surprisingly, these bars tend to open in the less pricey parts of the city, with all but The Cloak Bar clustered on the west side, very broadly in the Trinity-Bellwoods and freshly rehabilitated Parkdale neighbourhoods.
North of Trinity-Bellwoods in the city’s Little Italy neighbourhood, Sismondo cites Bar Pompette as one of the more exciting recent additions to Toronto’s cocktail circuit, strong in its highballs programme, while also highlighting the Port Light, the sister bar of Civil Liberties located just west of the original. In the generally pricier downtown core, hotels such as the Fairmont Royal York, with its Clockwork bar, and the top-floor Louix Louis at the St. Regis are the primary fliers of the creative cocktail flag, although the endlessly innovative, independent and pioneering BarChef sits not far away on the downtown side of the Fashion District stretch known as West Queen West.
Evolution of cocktail culture
Dave Mitton now works as global Canadian whisky ambassador for Corby Spirit & Wine, but during the time he helmed the bar at the Harbord Room, he was one of the driving forces behind the transformation of cocktail culture in the city.
“It’s safe to say that back in the early 2000s there was only a handful of us trying to create a cocktail culture in Toronto,” recalls Mitton. “Today’s generation of bartenders has evolved in many ways, with sustainability having become common practice in most cocktail bars. Whether they’re recycling, or upcycling produce used in drinks to cut down on waste, replacing plastic straws with compostable ones, or changing the way they use ice so as to not waste water and energy.” He cites Bar Mordecai and Toronto bar veteran Evelyn Chick’s Simpl Things in Parkdale as prime examples of this trend.
Beyond sustainable mixology, another way the behind-the-bar mindset is changing revolves around the relationship between drinks, especially cocktails, and food, says James Bailey, national Tequila ambassador for Proximo Spirits Canada.
“I see many bartenders growing increasingly food-centric, drawing inspiration and even borrowing techniques from chefs,” says Bailey, “In some cases, food pairing is happening not only beside the cocktail, but even within it.”
Illustrating this merger of creative cooking and mixology, Bailey recalls fondly a recent encounter with a watermelon-flavoured cocktail topped by a cheese foam. Among the culinary cocktail’s most accomplished practitioners, he says, are Gift Shop on the west end Ossington Avenue, Mother and Ration at Sonder The Beverley hotel, the latter also a force in the sustainability movement.
Food and beverage partnership comes into play at any number of non-cocktail-focused bars and restaurants around the city, as well, such as Beerbistro, where lunch and dinner menus include suggested beer pairings, and the nine-outlet chain Craft Beer Market, which pre-pandemic held regularly scheduled ‘brewmaster dinners’ featuring pairings selected by representatives of local breweries.
Another way that the role of the bartender is changing is in how they interact with customers, says Mitton. “Bartenders are becoming more teachers than storytellers, catering to guests whose interest in their choice of drink has grown exponentially (and) who want to know the backstory of what they’re buying, how it is made, how it will affect their health, and so on,” he says.
Focus on local collaborations
This has naturally led to heightened interest in local producers, covering all categories of beverages from wine to cider and beer to spirits to mixers.
Someone with an obvious vested interest in this trend is Simon Ho, head of Toronto’s Spirit of York Distillery, one of two distilling companies that operate alongside a beer brewery and a saké brewery in the city’s Distillery District, at one time home to Gooderham & Worts, the largest distilling installation in the British Commonwealth. “I think we’re still behind beer in terms of local appeal, but the appeal of local products, including spirits, is definitely growing,” he says.
One way in which Ho and Spirit of York have sought to further this appeal is by liaising with bartenders and bar owners to find out what needs they have that the distillery might be able to fill. “That’s one of the reasons we have our aquavit, because we listened to what bartenders said they wanted and did our best to address that gap,” he says, “It was the same when you couldn’t get Campari because of supply chain issues, we put our minds to creating something they could use instead.”
It’s a relationship that works in both directions, notes Sismondo, offering the notion that the pandemic-born practice of bottling or canning pre-made cocktails is not only sticking around now that things are returning to normal, it’s also continuing to grow.
“Shaking ingredients in front of the customer is growing old,” she half-jokes, “Now, taps and cans are the way to go.” People like Nick Kennedy, owner of Civil Liberties, and Frankie Solarik, co-owner of BarChef, are leading this charge by working directly with distilleries to produce and package their creations, or even create bespoke spirits, she adds.
“It gives bars another outlet, so they can sell someone a drink or two in the bar, then another couple to go as they leave,” Sismondo says. “It melds beautifully with the fact that people are now looking to buy experiences they can take with them, whether to their home, a party or a nearby park.”
And if they don’t wish to leave, there is always karaoke as entertainment, which Sismondo notes seems to be an emerging trend among cocktail bars. “In 2022, karaoke is the new comedy,” she says, offering the observation that Bar Mordecai has gradually transformed its entire basement level into karaoke rooms. Other cocktail bars are following suit.
This article was initially published in the November issue of Global Drinks Intel magazine. For details on how to subscribe, click here.
